Sarah Rockwell
November 7, 2011
Deering M.S
Journal #4
During my visits within Mrs. L's science classroom, I notice many disruptions that occur on a regular basis. Students occassionally cunduct their own conversations during instructional time, individual students will try to distract the teacher by asking off-topic questions, some students will not come to class with any of their materials, and occasionally the main office will call Mrs. L's classroom phone. For each of these disruptions Mrs. L has a unique response. When students begin their own conversations in the back of the classroom, Mrs. L usually stroll over to their area while continuing her lecture or she will simply stop talking and wait until they take notice and quiet down. When students try to throw her off-topic by asking inappropriate questions, she gently reminds them that they need to stay on task to get through the lesson. For those students who come to Mrs. L's class unprepared, she always has a back-up pile of the current assignments to distribute. Even when Mrs. L's classroom phone rings she simply excuses herself from the classroom for a quick second, asking the students to complete a quick task while she is on the phone. Overall, Mrs. L does a fabulous job of keeping her students on-task and busy throughout her classtime, regardless of the distraction.
Throughout my 5 weeks with Mrs. L's classes, I have noticed the students that have more behaivor issues than others. I have observed how Mrs. L handles these students, and have discussed ways of managing their behavior in the classroom. With 2 students, Mrs. L keeps a daily running record of their performance in class. The record is kept in the students' adgenda's and is signed off by the parents every night. The record is for improvement only and focusses on the posetives such as: contributing to the classroom discussions appropriately, staying on task, and coming to class prepared. I will adopt this method when I am student teaching in her classroom because these students are familiar with this method and have come to respect it and follow it.
In my own classroom I envision a democratic environment where students can contribute to their learning. I would adopt many of the techniques that Mrs. L uses for classroom management, but I would let the students be a bit more involved in their learning. I would allow them to make their own classroom rules at the begining of the year. This way they are all help accountable for rules that they all value. I sometimes feel that students do not always know why they are being discaplined or why certain rules are set in place. If they create the classroom "laws" on their own they would better understand the purposes behind them.
November 7, 2011
Deering M.S
Journal #4
During my visits within Mrs. L's science classroom, I notice many disruptions that occur on a regular basis. Students occassionally cunduct their own conversations during instructional time, individual students will try to distract the teacher by asking off-topic questions, some students will not come to class with any of their materials, and occasionally the main office will call Mrs. L's classroom phone. For each of these disruptions Mrs. L has a unique response. When students begin their own conversations in the back of the classroom, Mrs. L usually stroll over to their area while continuing her lecture or she will simply stop talking and wait until they take notice and quiet down. When students try to throw her off-topic by asking inappropriate questions, she gently reminds them that they need to stay on task to get through the lesson. For those students who come to Mrs. L's class unprepared, she always has a back-up pile of the current assignments to distribute. Even when Mrs. L's classroom phone rings she simply excuses herself from the classroom for a quick second, asking the students to complete a quick task while she is on the phone. Overall, Mrs. L does a fabulous job of keeping her students on-task and busy throughout her classtime, regardless of the distraction.
Throughout my 5 weeks with Mrs. L's classes, I have noticed the students that have more behaivor issues than others. I have observed how Mrs. L handles these students, and have discussed ways of managing their behavior in the classroom. With 2 students, Mrs. L keeps a daily running record of their performance in class. The record is kept in the students' adgenda's and is signed off by the parents every night. The record is for improvement only and focusses on the posetives such as: contributing to the classroom discussions appropriately, staying on task, and coming to class prepared. I will adopt this method when I am student teaching in her classroom because these students are familiar with this method and have come to respect it and follow it.
In my own classroom I envision a democratic environment where students can contribute to their learning. I would adopt many of the techniques that Mrs. L uses for classroom management, but I would let the students be a bit more involved in their learning. I would allow them to make their own classroom rules at the begining of the year. This way they are all help accountable for rules that they all value. I sometimes feel that students do not always know why they are being discaplined or why certain rules are set in place. If they create the classroom "laws" on their own they would better understand the purposes behind them.